People looking for alternative to UPA govt: Mulayam

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday attacked the UPA government at the centre, saying no country in the world had seen so much deterioration as India in the last 10 years. He said people were now getting desperate for an alternative.

“There is threat to India’s politics, security, economy and secularism like never there,” he said in his presidential address at the SP national executive meeting here.

Expressing concern over inflation, corruption and death of farmers, he said maintaining communal harmony was the biggest challenge at the moment.

The two-day meet began with a condolence message for those killed in the Uttarakhand tragedy and in Muzaffarnagar violence. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was also present on the first day of the meet.

“People of the country are searching for an alternative. It would be regional parties which will have to take up the challenge, ”said Yadav.

He said the SP had been raising the issue of increasing threat to the country’s security on the borders for the last 20 years, but this had gone unheard by both the UPA and the NDA regimes.

“It is the first and foremost responsibility of a nation to instill a feeling of security and honour in its people. Unfortunately, during the UPA and the NDA regimes, the people felt insulted and insecure,” he alleged. The SP supremo said there hadbeen a number of attacks and intrusions on the borders with soldiers being killed, something which the government hid from the country.

“No serious effort is being made by the government to change the situation. The Prime Minister first gives assurances and then says that we cannot switch our neighbours,” he said.

“It is true that we can’t change our neighbours, but we can’t let our boundaries be held captive,” Yadav added.

Yadav said the Indian economy was in poor shape despite the UPA claims that it would control inflation within 100 days of coming to power. He alleged small farmers, unemployed-youth and slumdwellers were the biggest victims of the country’s economy.

“The prices for essential items have risen by more than 100 % and this government at the Centre has disappointed the masses. The amount of money gone in scams in the last five years standsat ` 5 lakh crore. Both the UPA and the NDA have failed in providing good governance to the nation,” he said while stating that the countdown for the central government had begun.

“A new government would be in power next year and the Samajwadi Party would have maximum responsibility in its formation and strength and thus we should be capable enough to meet the challenge” emphasised Mulayam.

He alleged that some political parties were trying to take advantage of the situation in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas and trying to worsen the scene.